The teacher’s codeswitching and the learner’s strategic response: Pursuing a research

agenda

Ernesto MacaroUniversity of Oxford

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outline

• Importance of the topic• Different backdrops to the topic• Research carried out over a number of years• Defining codeswitching• Recommendations to practitioners

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1997

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Findings

• Most teachers believed L2 should be predominant language

• Most teachers felt limited L1 was useful • L1 facilitated setting up tasks (collaborative

learning)• L1 sometimes needed to explain new lexical

items which arise in interaction

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Why?

• Me?• Not many answers? Slippery issue?• So much interest?• Why focus on teacher?• Why the huge pendulum swing?

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Why the huge pendulum swing?

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1980sL1 use

banned

1960sFrequent L1

use accepted

Theoretical perspectives

Why the huge pendulum swing?

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1980sL1 use

banned

2000sL1 use

accepted

Theoretical perspectives

Recent prominent publications

• Guy Cook (2010). Translation in language teaching. OUP

• Glenn Levine (2011). Code choice in the language classroom. Multilingual Matters

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This way

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Native speaker teacher

Non-native speaker teacher

Backdrop 1

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NS/NNS teacher

• ‘English-only’ ; ‘English-through-English’; ‘Full-English’

• Only an issue in EFL• Global political status of English (lingua franca)• ‘native’ is imprecise and contestable• Not the language you hear at birth; language

you can best operate in

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Monolingual teacher

Bilingual teacher

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advantages and disadvantages

• the presence of two languages in the classroom

• a constant source of intellectual stimulation• opportunity to reflect on pedagogy• Monolingual teacher: main challenge how to

communicate with students• Bilingual teacher: every action involves a

major pedagogical decision

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sociolinguisti

c

Socio-cultura

l

Backdrop 2

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Socio-cultural

• classrooms are communities of practice• Language is a tool for learning• Interaction needs to be ‘authenticated’ (Van

Lier)

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Socio-cultural Studies

• L1 has therefore been identified as a tool with which the individual not only thinks about language during use, the ‘inner voice’ for working out the task in question, but also the tool with which s/he progresses the task with others.

• The evidence so far, however, is that it facilitates classroom interaction, not language acquisition per se.

• evidence that codeswitching among learners develops their interlanguage or their language skills is thin.

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Linguistic imperialism? Negotiated Learning? Excuse for GTM?

• the use of the L1 and the amount of that use cannot be left undetermined.

• No study shows positive outcomes of a classroom typified by impoverished L2 input and interaction

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Research Questions

•Do children & adults prefer monolingual or bilingual teachers?•How do children & adults respond to EO and CS?

Findings•No teacher preference; different attributes valued•Children welcome CS more than adults but adults like some CS too

Macaro & Lee (with reviewers)

Research Question:

• Does CS by learners in tasks lead to ‘eventual’ greater Willingness to Communicate (WTC)?

Finding:

• A tentative ‘yes’. Longer productions at least

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Maria Vrikki, doctoral study in process

Research question:

• Does a bilingual assistant + permission to CS result in greater fluency?

Finding:

• Another tentative ‘yes’

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Macaro, Nakatani, Hayashi & Khabbasbashi (2012 forthcoming) LLJ

Backdrop 3

Teacher professionalism

Teacher integrity

Teacher reflection

National language

policy

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Her Majesty’s Inspectors in the UK

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“learners had no problem understanding lessons competently taught entirely in the target language”

No problemunderstandingIf lesson competently

taught

Circularity?

Classroom L1 use around the world

• 2% -5% (Kong & Zhang, 2005), 4% - 12% (Macaro, 2001), 0 – 18% (Rolin-Ianziti & Brownlie, 2002), 0% - 60% (Levine, 2003), 0% - 90% (Duff & Polio, 1990)

• ‘pragmatic’? • Unprincipled and ad hoc?

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FUNCTIONS of L1 use:

• contrasting L1 and L2 forms, • providing metalinguistic cues, • Translating lexical items• giving L1 explanations of previously used L2 utterances, • providing instructions for carrying out tasks, prompting

L2 use, • commenting on social events, • eliciting learner participation, • classroom management• Short-cut to learning

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The L1 as a short cut to learning

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?What does that mean?

• I HAVE YET TO COME ACROSS A STUDY OF THE FUNCTIONS OF CODESWITCHING WHICH IDENTIFIES A FUNCTION THAT IS ALWAYS CARRIED OUT IN THE TARGET LANGUAGE!

• An opportunity for a research project!

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How much L1 am I allowed to

use?

oh the research

says teachers are

using anything

between 0% and

90%

Oh right, thank

you very much,

that’ll do nicely!

Research on novice teachers

Principles to react to:

• It is important to expose learners to the target language and to interact in the target language

Findings (over a year)

• Positive at first; changes slightly as year progressed

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Teacher positions on the value of the L1

• Virtual position• Maximal position• Optimal position

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Backdrop 4

CLIL

MOI

Content-based language learning

Immersion

?Meaning-focusand alternativepurpose

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Medium of instruction

Research question:

• Does switching to EngMOI, lead to a change in interaction?

Finding:

• A fairly strong ‘yes’

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Lo, Y.Y. and Macaro E. (2012). The medium of instruction and classroom interaction: evidence from Hong Kong secondary schools. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 15, 1, 29-52.

Backdrop 5

codeswitchin

g

The interaction hypothesis

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Codeswitching and vocabulary

Research question:

• Does teacher codeswitching to provide lexical information result in greater vocabulary learning than L2-only information?

Findings

• ‘Yes’, but……

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Tian & Macaro 2012 forthcoming. Language Teaching Research

Backdrop 6

Teacher codeswitching

Learner’s strategic reaction

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Macaro (with reviewers)

Research Method

• Year 9 learners learning French in UK• After listening to a text teacher attempted to

explain new lexical using L2 definition, paraphrase and contextualization (video-recorded)

• Stimulated recall some days later• Reverse procedure: new items explained in L1• Students asked for preferences

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Findings

• Students’ strategies for understanding the L2 word very limited: almost entirely reliant on the cognate nature of the word

• Students’ strategies for understanding the L2 explanations very limited: almost entirely reliant on the cognate nature of any word in the teacher’s (spoken) explanation

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Conclusion

• If teachers want to put across the meaning of new lexical items (i.e. L2 only approach) they will need to:

• Train/help their students to cope with L2-only input.

• Alternative strategies to cognates.

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A codeswitching approach (versus use of L1)

Intra-sentential switching

NaturalisticCodeswitching is rule-bound

Principled use of codeswitching

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Example of intra-sentential codeswitching

Cara XXXXXX

solo una breve nota: non comparare un B.Sc. 2:1 con una laurea del vecchio ordinamento italiano. E' molto unfair.

La laurea italiana del vecchio ordinamento durava di media 7 anni, e meno del 30% degli iscritti al primo anno completava gli studi. Invece un bachelor inglese dura 3 anni e con delle percentuali di drop out come quelle italiane qui un dipartimento verrebbe chiuso immediatamente per poor teaching.

Se prendi un first class student inglese e lo fai studiare per 7 anni sarebbe preparato quanto noi. Non credo a superiorita' genetiche!!!

(Italian L1; English L2)• e-mail from an Italian academic to another (both living in UK)

Chinese teacher explaining to bilingual children how crickets make their noise

• dui, RUB, women jintian jixu shang xishuai zhe ke. Nimen zuotian zai ESL xuele yige xin si DEVELOPMENT. Na shi shenme yisi.

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Learner

L1 concept

bilingualbilingual

monolingual

Information: L1 optionsInformation: L2 options

• Definition• Paraphrase• Circumlocution• Exposition• Contextualization• Synonym/antonym• Hierarchical exemplification

• Definition• Paraphrase• Circumlocution• Exposition• Contextualization• Synonym/antonym• Hierarchical exemplification

L2 conceptCo-construction

of meaning

Teacher as dictionary designer

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Practical implications for the bilingual teacher

• Reject the ‘maximal position’ both for yourself and for those you are training to be teachers

• BUT! The ‘optimal position’ requires constant justification and heart-searching!

• Changing to L2 as the Medium of Instruction (CLIL) requires training; otherwise the interaction may become monologic.

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Practical implications for the bilingual teacher

• Ask your students what they do when they try to work out what you are saying in L2; particularly how they work out the meaning of a new word from your information about that new word.

• (particularly younger learners) need help in coping with teacher L2 input.

• Try to think of yourself as a walking dictionary and dictionary designer

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Thank you for listening

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